Important Changes In Gold Bug 2 Coil & Rod Design
By Steve Herschbach,
March 2, 2017 in First Texas - Bounty Hunter, Fisher & Teknetics
This is very important stuff for Gold Bug 2 owners so do please take note. Go so far as to tell friends that own a Gold Bug 2.
I made note back in June 2015 that the design of the 6" coil had changed, along with the coil cover. The old coils had an exposed epoxy bottom, with either a black or light gray epoxy exposed to the elements unless you used a white scuff cover / skid plate. Here are the old coils and cover:
The new coil has a fully enclosed white plastic housing and is a compatible replacement for the old coils. However, the scuff cover / skid plate is a different size and is black in color (thank you Fisher!). Here are the new coils and cover:
The new coil cover will not fit on old coils and the old coil cover will not fit on new coils.
Here is another tidbit I found out recently by accident - I have not seen it published anywhere. The Gold Bug 2 three piece rod was always a bit odd. The upper rod inserted into the middle rod. In other words, the middle rod section was female on both ends. I have never seen anyone else do it this way, but back in the day this was one of the first if not the first three piece S rod designs to hit the market. The original Gold Bug 2 rod was a two piece design. This made the Gold Bug 2 an oddball rod design compared to most of the rest of the First Texas lineup, and somewhere in the last couple years they went to the rod and arm cup used in other First Texas detectors for compatibility between various models. There are also more adjustment holes in the new middle rod - seven old versus nine new - an easy way to tell them apart. A good idea actually, but it means if you have an old Gold Bug 2, the upper and middle rods are different than the new ones. If you need parts, be careful to explain what you need. I promise most dealers will not know about this change in the rod design. Click on the image below for closeup.
Lower rods are compatible between both versions so no worries there.
